This invention relates to a mass communication assessment system.
The present invention relates to a mass communication assessment system which can be used to provide test material from a central control site to a plurality of test sites. Participants at the test sites can view audiovisual test material or other cognitive tasks and means is provided for assessing the psychological response to the test material. A network such as the Internet can be used to transmit data from the test sites to the central site for processing. Where the Internet is used, it is thought to be feasible to provide hardware and software to a relatively large number of subjects spread over various geographical locations, age groups and other socioeconomic groups. In this way a relatively large number of responses can be obtained from selected demographic groups.
The testing procedures can be used to assess interest in audiovisual material, audio material or the like. Assessments of this type are thought to be of considerable use in the advertising industry, film making and other commercial activities which produce audiovisual, audio or visual material. In this specification this material is referred to by the general term xe2x80x9ccognitive taskxe2x80x9d.
According to the present invention there is provided a mass communuication assessment system;
a central control site;
a plurality of remote test sites;
input means at the central control site for inputting signals representative of a cognitive task;
means for communicating the input signals to selected remote test sites via a network for providing two-way communication between the central control site and the remote sites;
receiving means at the remote test sites for receiving the input signals and presenting the cognitive task to a subject;
detecting means at the remote test sites for detecting brain response signals from subject to said cognitive task;
means for communicating said brain response signals to said central control site via the network; and
processing means for computing variations in brain activity for the subject at each of said selected sites.
The invention also provides a method of mass assessment of psychological response in a cognitive task for a customer including the steps of:
obtaining input data representing a cognitive task from a customer;
transmitting input data signals representing the cognitive task from a central control site to a plurality of selected test sites remote from the test site over a network;
presenting the cognitive task at each or at least some of the selected test sites;
detecting brain response signals from subjects at the selected test sites;
transmitting brain response signals to the central control site over said network;
computing variations in brain activity of said subjects; and
computing output data for the customer representing said variations in brain activity to different parts of said cognitive task.
The invention also provides a data processing system for processing data received from remote test sites, said system including:
input means at a central control site for inputting signals representative of a cognitive task;
means for communicating the input signals to selected remote test sites via a network for transmission of said input signals to selected remote sites for presentation of the cognitive task to subjects at the selected test sites;
means for receiving brain response signals of said subjects transmitted to said central control site via the network; and
processing means for computing variations in brain activity for said subjects.
The invention also provides a method of mass assessment of psychological response in a cognitive task for a customer including the steps of:
obtaining data representing a cognitive task from a customer;
transmitting data signals representing the data from a central control site to a plurality of selected test sites remote from the test site over a network;
receiving from the network brain response signals from subjects at the selected test sites to which the cognitive task has been presented;
computing variations in brain activity of said subjects; and
generating data for the customer representing said variations in brain activity to different parts of said cognitive task.
The invention also provides a test site for communication with a central control site via a network said site including:
receiving means for receiving input signals via the network from the central control site, said signals being representative of a cognitive task;
presenting means for presenting the cognitive task to a subject;
detecting means for detecting brain response signals from the subject to said cognitive task; and
means for communicating said brain response signals to said central control site via the network.
The invention also provides a method of transmitting signals from a remote site to a central control site including the steps of:
receiving data signals representing a cognitive task from the central control site over a network;
presenting the cognitive task to a subject;
detecting brain response signals from the subject; and
transmitting brain response signals to the central control site over said network.
In the preferred form of the invention, the network comprises the Internet. In this case it is relatively easy to establish communication between the central control site and a multiplicity of participating remote sites. The remote sites can be equipped with hardware which would enable programs and data to be transmitted to the remote sites for participation in the system.
It is envisaged that the system can be used to generate commercially valuable information to customers regarding responses to audiovisual material such as television commercials, still conmmercials, film or television presentations, radio advertisements or other audiovisual, visual or audio signals.
It is known to provide an apparatus and method for assessing electrical activity of the brain of a subject by calculation of the steady state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) amplitude and phase for a subject and then to generate signals which represent the response of the brain to a cognitive task. This process can be repeated a number of times for a number of of different subjects as to produce an average or mean response. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,955,388 and 5,331,969, the content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. It has now been realised that by provision of appropriate hardware and software, and by utilisation of the Internet, a very broad spectrum of subjects can readily be accessed. This enables mass assessment of test materials to be conveniently made at a great number of remote sites. The central control site may also include demographic information regarding the sites and their associated subjects thereby providing an opportunity for selection of subjects to a particular input or by ascertaining responses for particular demographic groups of subjects.